Shiprock man gets 50 months in stabbing

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HIPROCK - Shiprock man was sentenced in federal court in Albuquerque Tuesday to 50 months in prison after pleading guilty to assault and firearm charges.

In his plea agreement, Lancelot Lapahie, 25, said that during the late hours of March 23 and early hours of March 24, 2012, he was drinking alcohol with several friends when an argument broke out.

Lapahie admitted striking one man with a baseball bat and repeatedly striking another man about the head, arms and body with a machete. The victim of the machete attack suffered multiple stab wounds and cuts to his head, face, forearm, leg and back.

While investigating the assaults, officers found an unregistered shotgun in Lapahie's residence.

Black Rock body still unidentified

WINDOW ROCK - McKinley County sheriff deputies were still trying Monday afternoon to identify a man who was found dead along State Highway 264 Sunday.

Deputies were called to the mile marker 7 - just east of Black Rock - about 5:30 p.m. Sunday in reference to a report of a body lying alongside the road.

The police report said the man, who was in his 20s and may have been Native American, appears to have died of natural causes. There were no indications at the scene that there had been a struggle or that he died from being hit by a vehicle.

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Child killed in accident, adults flee

FORT WINGATE, N.M. - A one-car automobile accident Friday near Fort Wingate, N.M., ended up with the death of a five-year-old boy and a search for a female who was reportedly in the car when the accident occurred.

Witnesses to the crash told Navajo police that they saw a man and woman exit the vehicle after the crash and fled the area.

Police were directed to a home on Sweetwater Road near where the accident occurred and were told that was where the woman, identified as Sherie Pete, lived.

On the way to the house, police encountered a man who was asked if Sherie Pete was home and he said he didn't know but had heard a door shut.

When police got to the residence, a man answered and told police that the male who was involved in the accident was the one they spoke to on the road. When they went back to talk to that man, who was later identified as Richard Pete, they saw that he did have blood on his right jaw and on his back.

He was taken into custody and later admitted that he had fled the scene with Sherie Pete, who was last seen running into a ravine.

Navajo police, aided by state police and McKinley County sheriff's deputies, searched the area around the ravine but were never able to find her.

Woman calls stabbing self-defense

GALLUP - Navajo police are investigating a stabbing that occurred south of Gallup on Jones Ranch Road about 8 a.m. on Friday.

According to police reports, the victim, identified as Kelvin Wilson, was stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife. When police arrived, Wilson was slumped over by the back porch with no clothes on and covered with blood.

There was one female in the building, who was identified as Wilson's ex-girlfriend.

She told police that she was in her home getting ready for work with the door left unlocked. Wilson let himself in, she said, and once inside he tried to rape her. She managed to escape and ran into the kitchen where she got the knife and stabbed him in the chest.

She then started crying and said she never meant to hurt him. She kept telling police, amidst the tears, that she had to get to work and didn't want to be late.

She was placed in back of the Navajo police unit and taken into Crownpoint for questioning. The report doesn't say if Wilson lived or died but it does not indicate that he was taken to the hospital. It also does not indicate if the woman was charged or not.